express 15/4 as a whole number

asked by guest
on Nov 29, 2024 at 10:11 pm



You asked:

Round \(\frac{15}{4}\) to the nearest whole number.

MathBot Answer:

\(\frac{15}{4}\) rounded to the nearest \(1\) is \(4\).


Rounding \(\frac{15}{4}\) to the nearest \(1\) is equivalent to finding the integer multiple of \(1\) nearest to \(\frac{15}{4}\).

The two consecutive multiples of \(1\) that \(\frac{15}{4}\) falls between are:\[3 \cdot 1 = 3\] and \[(3 + 1) \cdot 1 = 4\] So:\[3 \le \frac{15}{4} \le 4\]

The distance from \(\frac{15}{4}\) to \(3\) is \(\left| \frac{15}{4} - 3 \right| = -3 + \frac{15}{4}\).

The distance from \(\frac{15}{4}\) to \(4\) is \(\left| \frac{15}{4} - 4 \right| = 4 - \frac{15}{4}\).

\(\frac{15}{4}\) is closer to \(4\) than it is to \(3\), so \(\frac{15}{4}\) rounded to the nearest \(1\) is \(4\).


\(3\) from the above statement about consecutive multiples of \(1\) can be computed from the formula for the greatest integer \(n\) such that \(n \cdot 1 \le \frac{15}{4}\): \[ n = \operatorname{floor}\left(\frac{15}{4} \div 1 \right) = \operatorname{floor}\left(\frac{15}{4} \right) = 3\]